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Former Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino took aim at board members at the University of Louisville in his first interview since the school fired him.

Pitino, speaking with ESPN's Jay Bilas in a taped interview that aired late Wednesday night, said the university he knows is not represented by trustees that he believed moved prematurely against him.

He referred to the school's board of trustees, though it was the University of Louisville Athletic Association that unanimously voted to fire Pitino on Monday.

"To me, this board of trustees, locking me out of my office, telling me I'm dismissed before facts came out. Let it develop," Pitino said. "They're not the University of Louisville. They're a board hired by the governor to deal with the president situation a while ago. They're not the University of Louisville that I know. ... The University of Louisville didn't treat me that way. This board of trustees did – and a couple of them. I shouldn't put them all in one lump sum."

Pitino again denied any knowledge of wrongdoing by his assistants, one of whom was mentioned as "Coach 1" in a federal complaint detailing alleged schemes to attempt to funnel money to high school recruits in exchange for them signing with a particular agent and school and with Adidas.

The FBI alleges the unnamed Louisville coach took part in a meeting in a Las Vegas hotel room to discuss a plan to attempt to funnel money to a recruit's family.

"Should I have known that somebody walked into a hotel room?" Pitino said. "I don't see how I could possibly know. ... I take ownership for who I hired. I take full responsibility for that."

Pitino was fired "for cause" on Monday after his attorneys attempted to convince the ULAA to reconsider. The Hall of Fame coach was released from his Adidas contract on Tuesday and immediately filed a lawsuit against the apparel company.

Former Louisville assistant coach Jordan Fair "parted ways" with the university last week, while associate head coach Kenny Johnson is on administrative leave.

He repeated what his lawyers told the ULAA on Monday, that he took — and passed — a polygraph test conducted on behalf of his attorneys.

"I'm going to answer to God, and I know the truth," Pitino said. "Does it hurt me? Of course, it hurts me. I want everybody to be proud of me. It hurts. But that being said, if I knew something was wrong, I immediately would've terminated anybody in that situation. I don't have any tolerance for people who do the wrong thing in that area."

Pitino told Bilas the most emotional moment in this ordeal was speaking to his former players at Louisville.

"What I told them, I said, 'Guys, (interim coach) David Padgett is one of you,'" Pitino said. "'He played for me. He's like a son to me, like you are. Give him everything you've got. Give it to him. Win it all.' But I said, 'I'm not going to be in contact with you. It's his team now.'"